Active Futures Programme

Cheshire Community Foundation are delighted to announce the return of the Active Futures Programme for 2025. This programme will be delivered in partnership with the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire and Active Cheshire.

Context

This will be the second round of the Active Futures programme. In 2024, we awarded over £180,000 to 11 organisations to deliver early intervention activities which increased physical activity and reduced involvement in Serious Youth Violence and Child Criminal Exploitation.

When poverty, hardship, and serious violence are common in a community, children and young people are affected—both directly and indirectly. This makes them more likely to get involved in serious violence, either as victims or as offenders. In these situations, violence can start to feel normal, which increases the risk of trauma and makes young people more vulnerable to being taken advantage of.

Summary

This page provides a summary of the programme. For full details, please read the programme brief here.

What will the programme focus on?

Through sport and physical activity, this programme will fund projects delivering early intervention and diversionary activities for young people at risk of involvement in Child Criminal Exploitation and Serious Youth Violence.

• Frequency of Serious Violence related crime
• Levels of Deprivation
• Levels of children living in poverty or rapidly increasing rates of children living in poverty.

Areas which meet these criteria are highlighted on the Cheshire Commissioning Dashboard.

• Offer sports activities that are designed to help young people in ways beyond just playing or competing — such as boosting their health, building emotional and social skills like teamwork, managing emotions, and solving problems.
• Have identified a clear need in an area or group, and can tailor the intervention directly to the children and young people with whom they wish to work.
• Can demonstrate a lasting difference in the lives of children and young people. This could be through improving resilience, aspirations, skills, wellbeing etc.
• Can demonstrate a considered approach to enacting long-term sustainable change in young people’s lives. Successful projects will not focus solely on short-term benefits.
• Evidence a collaborative, youth led process in relation to co-production, delivery, and evaluation. All projects should be needs-led, and factor the voice of young people into their planning.

What can organisations apply for?

Applicants can apply for up to £20,000 for costs delivering early intervention work with Children and Young People aged 0-18.

All grants must engage Children and Young People through physical activity or sport. If required, you can apply for monitoring and evaluation costs within your budget. We expect the average grant size to be roughly £15,000.

All funded work must be delivered in areas highlighted on the Cheshire Commissioning Dashboard.